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Source-Based Strategy
EPA Goal 1: Taking Action on Climate Change and Improving Air Quality
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...including near roadway research
Introduction
The goal of EPA’s Clean Air Research program is to develop a better understanding of how specific pollution sources contribute to deleterious health effects and to employ sector-wide, multi-pollutant strategies to reduce risks. Pollution sources range from petroleum refining and cement production to roadways.
External EPA advisory boards, including the Science Advisory Board and the National Research Council (NRC), have recommended that research in this area be better integrated. One of the NRC reports, entitled Air Quality Management in the United States, strongly endorsed a broad air quality approach, rather than a pollutant-by pollutant approach, for more effective air quality management.
This research includes developing approaches to emissions management for industry sectors of greatest concern. The initial focus is to learn more about emissions and how they disperse near a roadway (e.g., emission gradient). The research will also address:
- How barriers (e.g., walls and vegetation) can influence or even reduce exposure to near-road pollutants
- How these pollutants can be reduced or eliminated in school buildings by using technologies that modify the ventilation system or reduce infiltration
Other key sectors of concern are petroleum refineries, cement production, and pulp and paper plants. Efforts are under way to provide data on the co-control benefits of various technologies (including scrubbers and sorbents) and to develop modeling tools that allow for consideration of multi-pollutant risk-reduction strategies, as well as the economic and cost implications of different options.
Finally, research will be conducted to improve information on emissions from the key sectors of concern other than near roadways.
Environmental Issue or Problem
Over 35 million people live within 100 meters of a major transportation system, including highways with more than four lanes. People are exposed to a mix of pollutants, including particulate matter and the toxic gases that regulations are designed to address. However, the exposures and characteristics of the pollutants in the near-road environment are different from those in other environments and may pose greater risks.
Over 200 studies have indicated that living near major roadways is associated with cardiorespiratory effects (e.g., asthma and bronchitis), adverse birth outcomes/developmental effects, premature mortality, cardiovascular effects, and childhood cancer.
In 2007, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found that reductions in hospitalization and emergency room visits, lost work and school days, and premature deaths account for the greatest expected benefits of air pollution regulation. Between 1996 and 2006, OMB attributed an annual savings of $63 billion to $430 billion to the development and implementation of air pollution regulations, most notably from control of particulate matter.
Long-Term Goal and Annual Performance Goals Addressed
Clean Air Multi-Year Plan (MYP) 2008-2012 (PDF) (52 pp, 293 KB, About PDF)
Contact
Carlos Nunez
Assistant Laboratory Director, Air | Human Health